Resources for learning

Students and teachers: when you’re looking for quality information to support your teaching and learning, we invite you to explore the resources below. Here you’ll find a wide range of resource types from New Zealand and overseas, along with tips on how to make best use of them.

We can lend resources

Teachers: You can borrow books and DVDs from one of our three service centres, to support your class programmes. National Library of New Zealand catalogue - Find items from the National Library's published collections.

Students: Talk to your teacher about borrowing from us.

For more details about this service, see Curriculum Services or order resources online.

Online Resources Box

Online resources from the National Library

Here you’ll find interesting digital items of all kinds – videos, articles, encyclopedias, photographs, old newspapers, homework help, and more. These are all free to use.

  1. High Interest Topics - Discover our selection of popular topic websites; from ANZAC to Summer Safety. These have been selected in response to teacher demand for curriculum related online resources, including Māori and Pasifika topics.

  2. Primary Sources - People create and leave many clues about their lives. These are called primary sources. Explore a fascinating range of New Zealand primary sources in curriculum themed galleries with related teacher material.

  3. First World War resource guide for schools - The First World War resource guide for schools provides access to relevant online World War 1 and WW100 commemoration resources. This includes the experience and perspective of New Zealanders during the Great War, here and overseas.

  4. AnyQuestions - Online schoolwork help to students across the country. Log on between 1pm and 6pm Monday to Friday and chat with a research librarian about your schoolwork question. For additional support check out ManyAnswers. This service provides information supporting hundreds of popular question asked by students.

  5. EPIC - Access thousands of free electronic resources covering all curriculum learning areas from primary to secondary level. Included are: magazines, newspapers, encyclopaedia, images and databases.

  6. Digital New Zealand - Use DigitalNZ to uncover over 25 million New Zealand items from videos, audio to photographs and cartoons. Content also includes South Pacific countries. Create themed sets of DigitalNZ items and share with colleagues and students.

  7. Papers Past - Uncover more than two million pages of digitised New Zealand newspapers and periodicals. The collection covers the years 1839 to 1945. Also includes Pacific events. Browse by region, date, title or search by keyword.

  8. Index New Zealand - Search for articles published in over 1000 New Zealand and South Pacific newspapers, magazines (including te reo Māori), and journals, since 1987. Schools can request free copies of articles they discover on INNZ.

  9. The Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives (AJHR) - AJHR is a valuable tool for understanding how New Zealand has developed from its earliest colonial beginnings to the present. It provides a wealth of information for teachers and students studying colonial subjects, from the Land Wars to early New Zealand technology.

Online resources from other places

These great digital resources are provided by other institutions:

  1. Te Ara - A comprehensive online encyclopaedia of New Zealand that provides a depth of historical and contemporary information. Viewable in English and te reo Māori.

  2. Te Kete Ipurangi TKI - TKI is a bilingual site which provides online educational material for New Zealand teachers, school leaders, and the wider education community.

  3. New Zealand History Online - Extensive coverage of aspects of New Zealand history. Includes recent events like New Zealand music month and decade studies, as well as Pacific topics. Suitable for teachers and secondary students.

  4. Te Papa - Explore the current exhibitions, education material, programmes and extensive collections of the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa.

  5. Archway - Find valuable descriptive information about the historical material held in Archives New Zealand. Includes personnel records of servicemen and women who served during World War 1.

  6. The International Children's Digital Library - Offers a collection of outstanding books from around the world. The library's range of historical and contemporary books represents a vast range of cultures and languages including te reo Māori.

  7. Living Heritage (Bilingual) - Source of stories researched by students in New Zealand and Pacific countries about their local community's culture and history.

 

Online Pasfika resources

Pasifika digital resources provided by a range of New Zealand organisations.

  1. Fāgogo - Fables from Samoa.

  2. Te Kete Ipurangi TKI - Pasifika digital legends retold by students in three formats - video, audio and text.

  3. NZEPC - Pasifika poetry on the New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre.

  4. SPASIFIK - A magazine dedicated to Māori and Pacific people.

  5. Tagata Pasifika - TVNZ. Programmes on Thursdays and Sundays; news, features and community notices. Documentaries can be viewed on NZ on Screen.

  6. The New Zealand Pacific Picture Book Collection - Picture books selected by nine librarians with responsibility for providing library services for Pasifika communities in New Zealand. Includes curriculum links and classroom activities.

  7. Coconet TV - Hub for Pacific moving image and storytelling online with ideos, MEMES, vlogs and a daily coco-blog.

Online Māori resources

The following Māori online resources include general reference tools and online Māori dictionaries.

  1. Many Answers (Whakautu Maha) - Answers and search tips for questions that have been asked on AnyQuestions. The tag te reo Māori brings up the answers that are in te reo Māori. Suggested Search Term: Te Awa o Waikato.

  2. Te Ao Hou - Te Ao Hou was published from 1952 to 1976 by the Māori Affairs Department. Features bilingual content, with articles in both English and te reo Māori. Suggested Search Term: Whakatauaki.

  3. Hītori Māori - Nga kōrero o nehe Māori history in the New Zealand Curriculum - Provides materials to assist in the implementation of Te Takanga o te Wā, Guidelines for Teachers Years 1-4. However, also has materials appropriate for all levels, for both Māori Medium and English Medium.

  4. He Kohinga Rauemi ā - Ipurangi - This is an index of all Ministry of Education te reo Māori resources. Suggested search term: Waka Ama.

  5. Māori Organisation (English) - Provides links to contemporary, historical and educational websites about things Māori and resources include free clipart.

  6. Te Puni Kokiri (Māori and English) - A key information resource about Māori in New Zealand today. Click on 'In Focus' to see information and statistics on the Māori language.

  7. Reo Māori Resources - Provides links to a range of resources for teaching and learning te reo Māori and culture.

  8. Waitangi Tribunal (Māori and English) - Includes the full text of Waitangi Tribunal reports and provides information for students about the claims process. Suggested search: Resource kits for schools - Treaty of Waitangi Past and Present.

  9. WickED - WickED’s resources for children aged 7-12 years includes Māori interactives - Kokona Māori.

Māori dictionaries online

  1. He Pataka Kupu - The first dictionary completely in Māori it is an essential tool for all immersion classes and kura.

  2. Ngata Dictionary - With English and Māori terms it illustrates the use of Māori and English headwords in sentences and phrases and explains usage as well as meaning.

  3. Te Aka Māori-English, English-Māori Dictionary - Includes encyclopaedic entries including the names of plants and animals, stars, planets, important Māori people, key ancestors, tribal groups and ancestral canoe and place names.

  4. Wakareo a-ipurangi - Wakareo is the most comprehensive and up-to-the-minute dictionary online, but it is only available by subscription.

Copyright and attribution

When using any of the above online resources please be aware of their copyright requirements and usage restrictions. These are usually made clear on each site. 

If you are using items from these online resources you should also acknowledge or attribute them in your work. Most schools will have a referencing style that they expect all students to use. If unsure please ask your librarian.

For more information on copyright, reuse and how to cite items please feel free to explore the following and also the links below: